CU Magazine Disk 8 - Dec 1990

Rissy · 06 May 2021, 20:55

Same deal again as my previous posts for Amiga Format and Amiga Computing.

I have the following disk in .scp format only
(The .adf wouln't take. Too many errors.)

The magazine rack is currently missing this disk.

The disk I have seems to still work under emulation and you can get the menu up as shown in the screen shot for the disk on the magazine rack. I haven't tested it beyond this. Probably still better than nothing.

http://amr.abime.net/issue_66
CU Collection No.8 disk from December 1990.

Let me know if you want me to make the .scp available to you for the collection.

scuzz · 06 May 2021, 22:08

I have three copies of the disk and none will let you ADF them. Has a bootblocker. The disk appears as Lemmings on the Workbench screen but is unexutable. The disk will not run on an Amiga 1200. When you boot using an A500 you get the menu that lets you play the games RoboCop and Lemmings plus a couple of others. The disk has a virus alert at boot requesting decisions on memory and options. I guess that is why the disk isn't there cus Blitzer wouldn't Blitz it. My disks are the original from the magazine.

Rissy · 06 May 2021, 23:43

My disk is the original from the magazine too. i didn't see anything relating to a virus on it though? (How do virsus even work on an Amiga anyway!? There's nothing a virus can do to an Amiga, surely?!) As soon as you switch it off, it's all wiped.

I know the CU magazine had an embarrassing release of a virus on their August '91 issue disk, but i've not heard of one being present on the December '90 issue disk.

scuzz · 07 May 2021, 16:49

In the and I created a DMS of the disk and packed it that way. I unpacked from the SHELL to a blank disk and it worked.

There is a bootblock on the disk that is activated the minute you put the disk in. It is often these boot blocks that coders used to both copy protect the disk and also sometimes to transmit virus'. The bootblock identifies virus protection from the initial boot process to ensure the system is clean. Information transmitted to memory will be still resident after a soft boot so sometimes they can transmit across disks when disk swapping.

The DMS process which simply requires DMS to be in your C drawer is activated from the CLI by say typing

DMS read RAM:T/cu-08.dms This creates a DMS of the disk as a single file.

To extract make sure the file cu-08.dms is in Ram:t and type with blank disk in DF0

DMS write RAM:T/cu-08.dms

When the disk is decrunched using DMS it will show the bootblock for the disk which is basically the opening page and the scrolling CUAmiga message. I guess you could extract and remove the bootblocker and put in your own and then maybe you could then ADF the disk. Matters not really as DMS is more convenient for a real Amiga anyway.

If you have a GVP/A590 hard drive on your A500 and you download say BubbleBobble from PanetEmu and run this on your 500 it will initiate a boot process that writes to your hard disk and prevents it booting. It then fires up a message on screen advising you of the dangers of virus' and the need to use a certain process which if you click to accept will disable your hard drive. It happened to me as I didn't concentrate and was just pressing return to continue. In the end I had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall my WB.

Suggested reading: BootBlocker, BootBlock, Amiga Virus etc. I have a virus checker on my machines with hard drives. Junk disks can have some write nasty stuff on them and can be just an irritation or as happened to me disabled my hard drive.

Rissy · 07 May 2021, 20:44

I see. I'll be honest, i didn't understand all that fully. But what you're saying is, turn off your Amiga between game plays. I've literally just finished backing up all my old disks to my laptop now. Been a lengthy process that's taken me over a week, working on it every night for hours! I suppose now, if any of my disks have a virus, i've copied that too. And then if i burn the images back to floppy, there goes the virus down again. But what about running the software under emulation, or on a Gotek?

scuzz · 08 May 2021, 03:56

I have over 13000 Amiga disks and I am pretty sure there isn't anything contaminating my disks. Not something I worry about to be honest. I have Amigas with virus protection but most flag up none standard bootblocks all the time.

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu..._190420_23.jpg

Here is a blog of mine regarding BootBlocks ..

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...ril20_1901.htm

Here is that virus problem I had [ very rare ]

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...may20_2302.htm

And here are a couple of virus checkers. You can download them from Aminet.

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...ber20_2701.htm

Virus protection on an A500

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu..._121020_12.jpg

One last thing and that is if you use an ADF program to create copies of disks and the disk has a checksum error or other problem then the ADF will simply replicate the error. It pays to check disks first to see if they are working and sometimes use say DirectoryOpus on suspect disks to copy the contents to RAM and compare file sizes to see if they are the same. A faulty file may look the correct size but when copied could be smaller and broken.

Rissy · 08 May 2021, 09:40

So even though i've copied all my disks (mostly all as .adf, but some ive taken .scp copies instead of, or as well as .adf) and even if they look good from the GW read process (all sectors accounted for etc) there's still no certainty that the disks have copied well? Is this what you're saying?

solarmon · 08 May 2021, 14:03

View the SCP image in HxC Floppy Emulator Software and you can see whether there are any errors.

DamienD · 08 May 2021, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by scuzz

In the and I created a DMS of the disk and packed it that way. I unpacked from the SHELL to a blank disk and it worked.

There is a bootblock on the disk that is activated the minute you put the disk in. It is often these boot blocks that coders used to both copy protect the disk and also sometimes to transmit virus'. The bootblock identifies virus protection from the initial boot process to ensure the system is clean. Information transmitted to memory will be still resident after a soft boot so sometimes they can transmit across disks when disk swapping.

The DMS process which simply requires DMS to be in your C drawer is activated from the CLI by say typing

DMS read RAM:T/cu-08.dms This creates a DMS of the disk as a single file.

To extract make sure the file cu-08.dms is in Ram:t and type with blank disk in DF0

DMS write RAM:T/cu-08.dms

When the disk is decrunched using DMS it will show the bootblock for the disk which is basically the opening page and the scrolling CUAmiga message. I guess you could extract and remove the bootblocker and put in your own and then maybe you could then ADF the disk. Matters not really as DMS is more convenient for a real Amiga anyway.

You can probably now use ADF-Workshop to convert to a working .ADF.

Rissy · 08 May 2021, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by solarmon

View the SCP image in HxC Floppy Emulator Software and you can see whether there are any errors.

So not all my disks have been copied as .SCP. This takes longer, and it already took me a week to do them using mostly as .ADF. Does this mean i'll have to go through them all AGAIN, picking out the ones i didn't take .SCP of, and then do that? Normally the only reason i took .SCP versions was when the .ADF was clearly not working on sectors. If this was the case, i considered it to be because it was copy protected, or the disk was suffering faults. If it went right through them quickly without missing sectors, then i considered it to be a good copy and therefore didn't see the point in taking .SCP copied. Is this not the case?

I do have some where i took both .ADF and .SCP. But they're in their rarety amongst my collection.

solarmon · 08 May 2021, 20:30

I may write with an ADF image, but I always do an SCP dump of a disk. If it looks OK then it can be converted to ADF if required.

Yes, this takes a long time, but that is just my preference. I like to check the image visually with HxC, which will give you a better idea of where the errors are, if any, so that you can check your disks for mould/damage; or if the disk looks modified from original.

solarmon · 08 May 2021, 21:16

I think I got some of the early CU / CU Amiga coverdisks - 1 to 4 - so I should look to dump those and upload. It is a shame that AMR doesn't seem to be managed/maintained at the moment.

06 May 2021, 20:55	#1
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	CU Magazine Disk 8 - Dec 1990 Same deal again as my previous posts for Amiga Format and Amiga Computing. I have the following disk in .scp format only (The .adf wouln't take. Too many errors.) The magazine rack is currently missing this disk. The disk I have seems to still work under emulation and you can get the menu up as shown in the screen shot for the disk on the magazine rack. I haven't tested it beyond this. Probably still better than nothing. http://amr.abime.net/issue_66 CU Collection No.8 disk from December 1990. Let me know if you want me to make the .scp available to you for the collection.

06 May 2021, 23:43	#3
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	My disk is the original from the magazine too. i didn't see anything relating to a virus on it though? (How do virsus even work on an Amiga anyway!? There's nothing a virus can do to an Amiga, surely?!) As soon as you switch it off, it's all wiped. I know the CU magazine had an embarrassing release of a virus on their August '91 issue disk, but i've not heard of one being present on the December '90 issue disk. Last edited by Rissy; 07 May 2021 at 09:35.

08 May 2021, 20:30	#11
solarmon Registered User Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: UK Posts: 1,715	I may write with an ADF image, but I always do an SCP dump of a disk. If it looks OK then it can be converted to ADF if required. Yes, this takes a long time, but that is just my preference. I like to check the image visually with HxC, which will give you a better idea of where the errors are, if any, so that you can check your disks for mould/damage; or if the disk looks modified from original. Last edited by solarmon; 08 May 2021 at 21:30.

08 May 2021, 21:16	#12
solarmon Registered User Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: UK Posts: 1,715	I think I got some of the early CU / CU Amiga coverdisks - 1 to 4 - so I should look to dump those and upload. It is a shame that AMR doesn't seem to be managed/maintained at the moment. Last edited by solarmon; 08 May 2021 at 21:22.

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06 May 2021, 22:08	#2
scuzz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: New Forest Posts: 196	I have three copies of the disk and none will let you ADF them. Has a bootblocker. The disk appears as Lemmings on the Workbench screen but is unexutable. The disk will not run on an Amiga 1200. When you boot using an A500 you get the menu that lets you play the games RoboCop and Lemmings plus a couple of others. The disk has a virus alert at boot requesting decisions on memory and options. I guess that is why the disk isn't there cus Blitzer wouldn't Blitz it. My disks are the original from the magazine.

07 May 2021, 16:49	#4
scuzz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: New Forest Posts: 196	In the and I created a DMS of the disk and packed it that way. I unpacked from the SHELL to a blank disk and it worked. There is a bootblock on the disk that is activated the minute you put the disk in. It is often these boot blocks that coders used to both copy protect the disk and also sometimes to transmit virus'. The bootblock identifies virus protection from the initial boot process to ensure the system is clean. Information transmitted to memory will be still resident after a soft boot so sometimes they can transmit across disks when disk swapping. The DMS process which simply requires DMS to be in your C drawer is activated from the CLI by say typing DMS read RAM:T/cu-08.dms This creates a DMS of the disk as a single file. To extract make sure the file cu-08.dms is in Ram:t and type with blank disk in DF0 DMS write RAM:T/cu-08.dms When the disk is decrunched using DMS it will show the bootblock for the disk which is basically the opening page and the scrolling CUAmiga message. I guess you could extract and remove the bootblocker and put in your own and then maybe you could then ADF the disk. Matters not really as DMS is more convenient for a real Amiga anyway. If you have a GVP/A590 hard drive on your A500 and you download say BubbleBobble from PanetEmu and run this on your 500 it will initiate a boot process that writes to your hard disk and prevents it booting. It then fires up a message on screen advising you of the dangers of virus' and the need to use a certain process which if you click to accept will disable your hard drive. It happened to me as I didn't concentrate and was just pressing return to continue. In the end I had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall my WB. Suggested reading: BootBlocker, BootBlock, Amiga Virus etc. I have a virus checker on my machines with hard drives. Junk disks can have some write nasty stuff on them and can be just an irritation or as happened to me disabled my hard drive.

07 May 2021, 20:44	#5
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	I see. I'll be honest, i didn't understand all that fully. But what you're saying is, turn off your Amiga between game plays. I've literally just finished backing up all my old disks to my laptop now. Been a lengthy process that's taken me over a week, working on it every night for hours! I suppose now, if any of my disks have a virus, i've copied that too. And then if i burn the images back to floppy, there goes the virus down again. But what about running the software under emulation, or on a Gotek?

08 May 2021, 03:56	#6
scuzz Registered User Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: New Forest Posts: 196	I have over 13000 Amiga disks and I am pretty sure there isn't anything contaminating my disks. Not something I worry about to be honest. I have Amigas with virus protection but most flag up none standard bootblocks all the time. https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu..._190420_23.jpg Here is a blog of mine regarding BootBlocks .. https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...ril20_1901.htm Here is that virus problem I had [ very rare ] https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...may20_2302.htm And here are a couple of virus checkers. You can download them from Aminet. https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu...ber20_2701.htm Virus protection on an A500 https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scu..._121020_12.jpg One last thing and that is if you use an ADF program to create copies of disks and the disk has a checksum error or other problem then the ADF will simply replicate the error. It pays to check disks first to see if they are working and sometimes use say DirectoryOpus on suspect disks to copy the contents to RAM and compare file sizes to see if they are the same. A faulty file may look the correct size but when copied could be smaller and broken.

08 May 2021, 09:40	#7
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	So even though i've copied all my disks (mostly all as .adf, but some ive taken .scp copies instead of, or as well as .adf) and even if they look good from the GW read process (all sectors accounted for etc) there's still no certainty that the disks have copied well? Is this what you're saying?

08 May 2021, 14:03	#8
solarmon Registered User Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: UK Posts: 1,715	View the SCP image in HxC Floppy Emulator Software and you can see whether there are any errors.

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